SYDNEY (31 Jan 2015) – Ange Postecoglou will ask his players to deliver more of what has taken the Socceroos to the final of the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 as the host nation prepares to take on Korea Republic in the continental championship showpiece in Sydney later today.
Australia will play in their second consecutive AFC Asian Cup final after losing 1-0 in extra time to Japan in Qatar in 2011 and, with a full house expected at Stadium Australia, the former Brisbane Roar coach wants his team to continue to show the form that has secured wins over Kuwait, Oman, China and the United Arab Emirates.
“We’ll just do what we’ve been doing,” said Postecoglou to www.the-afc.com. “It’s been successful so far and we’ll continue to do that.
“There won’t be any secrets about how we go about it, we’ll take the game to the opposition, we’ll put pressure on them and it’s up to them to stop us from creating opportunities and scoring goals. Nothing’s going to change from that perspective.”
Australia’s lone defeat in the tournament so far came against the Koreans in the final group game in Brisbane, when Lee Jeong-hyeop scored the only goal to ensure Uli Stielike’s side finished top of Group A.
That loss, believes Postecoglou, will have little bearing on the outcome of the final.
“At the end of it, we lost but we felt we preformed really well on the night so from our perspective there were no negatives to come out of it,” he said.
“We finished second in the group but it didn’t cost us too much from the tournament perspective. In many ways, it helped us because we managed to stay in Brisbane and we didn’t have to travel for the quarter-final. We know that at our best we’re certainly a match for the Korean team.
“All these kind of things become irrelevant when it comes down to a one-off game, because it’s a big occasion.
“The previous game goes out the window. You realise every moment is so crucial in a big game. It’s about which team can execute the best on the day. Having been involved in a few finals, you know it doesn’t always go according to the script.”
Postecoglou was waiting until after Friday evening’s final training session before assessing the fitness of right-back Ivan Franjic, who is the only injury doubt going into a game that comes at the end of an arduous tournament.
“I can’t speak more highly of their professionalism over this last month, it’s a long time to be together and live in each other’s pockets 24/7 and it’s something that only international football brings out,” said Postecoglou of his players.
“The players, every single day are making sure they’re doing the right things. We’ve got some fantastic, experienced players who are well led by the skipper and everything I have seen suggests we will be ready for tomorrow.
“It’s a big game, a big day and there’s always that possibility (of not winning) but I have a great deal of faith in this group of players to perform the task.”
In the meantime, the impact of nerves on his young players is the unknown factor for Korea Republic coach Uli Stielike as he fine-tunes his preparations for the final of the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015.
The Koreans have not featured in the final of the AFC Asian Cup since 1988 and the nation has not won the title since the second of their two championship successes on home soil in 1960, and the magnitude of the event at Stadium Australia in Sydney could have an adverse effect on the young Taeguk Warriors.
“I don’t know how we will go out to the field,” said Stielike. “We have a lot of young players.
“It’s the first time they will be in a big final, in a big event in front of 80,000 people. I don’t know how will be the reaction, if we can control our nerves and we play with calm and with conviction we will have every possibility to win the game.
“This will be the main point: How strong will be our mentality in this game?”
Korea saw off Iraq to reach the final having earlier defeated Uzbekistan in extra-time in the quarter-finals after topping Group A ahead of the Australians with three wins out of three.
In addition, Stielike’s team have not conceded a goal all tournament and, despite his team’s inexperience, the coach is confident he has a side good enough to end Korea’s long wait for a third AFC Asian Cup title.
“We are expecting and preparing for a very tough game tomorrow (Saturday),” said the German coach.
“Everybody knows that we played Australia in the group stage but everybody knows that we will play another Australia team with other players on the pitch.
“But, however, we are the team who is unbeaten, we are the team who didn’t concede any goals, so we go with a lot of confidence and conviction in the game knowing that we have to play at our best level if we want to beat Australia, because as we saw in the quarter-finals and the semi-finals we had to fight a lot and go into extra time against Uzbekistan.
“We suffered a lot in the semi-final and the other way, of Australia, was easier. They won the two games in normal time both games 2-0, so like I said before I think and I hope for the spectators that both teams can play at the best level and participate in a big event.”
